Should I buy I new processor?

[-{(echo)}-]

Okay, I got an oldish dell from someone, and right now it has a pentium 4 in it. I was thinking about replacing it with a pentium dual core. I mostly just use FL studio on it, but I plan on using some other programs as well.

So would it be worth it? I don't know alot about processors, so any help would be greatly appreciated. =D

[Xac]

hey this sounds like my computer

i got an old dell from a class i took in school and it was fairly good and then i got a dual core p4 i swapped the processors so far i havent noticed much diff though

[Shadow Wolf]

I haven't been up on my hardware for a bit, but if I'm not mistaken there are no dual core Pentium 4 processors. There's Pentium 4's with hyper-threading, a process that's kinda like 'half a dual core' if you will. The core processors I believe have a different pin configuration that would require you to buy a new motherboard as well.

[SoulinEther]

What is your dell's motherboard? does it support the new dual cores?

if not, then you may need to upgrade more than your cpu.

[Gollgagh]

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

screencap what it shows you and post it here

[prophetik music]

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

screencap what it shows you and post it here

specifically, if you could tell us what the motherboard in it is (the product number is enough), i can tell you what'll fit.

however, since you mentioned you have a p4, i'm assuming you've got a socket 478 board. they aren't compatible with intel's dual or quad-core processors, which are built on the socket 775 (and now 1366) motherboards.

you're likely stuck, and need to upgrade your system. it's probably not worth the cost of a new processor.